ABSTRACT
The term ‘psychotic’ is used as a descriptive term for disorders with hallucinations, delusions or severe abnormalities of behaviour (e.g. psychomotor retardation, catatonic behaviour). In this chapter this term is retained and disorders are discussed in turn as classified in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10) (WHO, 1992). The research literature on the main categories of disorder is reviewed here, focusing on the epidemiology, outcome, aetiology and treatment for women with psychotic disorders and does not attempt to cover the wider research literature in these areas.
